Drew

I watched Chloe walk off with Alex and my entire body clenched, jealousy rising like bile in my throat.

Millie fell back and started walking next to me. She didn’t say anything which was fine with me. I needed time to process Chloe and Alex’s tete-a-tete.

They were going to start dating. Because of my kiss. And I had to be all right with that. Because they were both my friends and it wasn’t their fault that I couldn’t keep my lips to myself. I mean, she’d been singing and I just got caught up in the emotion of it. It had been awesome. Man, I was an idiot.

“Who do you think will talk first?” Millie asked out of nowhere. “Chloe or Alex?”

“What?” I jerked my head around, surprised by her comment.

“You and me could probably go hours without saying anything. Which is cool with me. But them? Not so much. I wish I was close enough to hear who managed to beat the other out.”

I laughed, really laughed, and a lot of my angst evaporated. How some guy hadn’t snapped up Millie was a mystery to me. I mean we were too much alike to date, but seriously. This girl was a gem. Nice, thoughtful, intuitive. And Alex had been right, she’d grown into a beauty. “I don’t know. They are so alike it’s scary.”

“Totally. They’d make a terrible couple.” Millie winked at me then.

“You think?” A little hope swelled in my chest. I’d thought that all along but if her best friend thought so, maybe Chloe would see that too.

“Absolutely,” she grinned. “If they were together, they’d likely explode from all the enthusiasm.”

“Please don’t say Alka Seltzer,” I groaned as I dipped my head, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hands. “I’m going to hell for that.”

She chuckled. “You are, and if you’re smart, you will never say anything like that to Chloe again.”

“Noted,” I replied, wincing. I’d been dumb enough to use the phrase just this morning. “I know I was a jerk and I’ve learned my lesson, I swear.”

“Really?” Millie’s gaze narrowed. “Chloe told me about earlier.”

I let out a long sigh. Not at Millie. At myself. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “You definitely have to learn how to control your jealousy. That stuff is toxic and it pushes people away.”

I stopped. How did Millie know I was jealous? “What?”

“It’s completely obvious that you got upset every time she flirted with Alex.” Millie stopped and turned to me then. “To me anyway. I don’t think it was as clear cut for Chloe. In case you haven’t noticed, Chloe doesn’t have a ton of experience.”

I knew that she didn’t. It’s why I had agreed to keep things in the friend zone to give her time to figure things out. At least until I had gone and kissed her. “Yeah, I get that. I’m trying to go super slow, not overwhelm with dating, just keep in the friend—“

“Actually, that’s not what I meant. This would probably go a lot more smoothly if you were just honest with her.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. It made so much sense. I didn’t know if I was ready to tell her about my fear that she’d never take me seriously, but I should at the very least tell her about the kiss. “Honesty, huh?”

Millie gave me a wink. “Honesty.”

Man, this was going to suck.

* * *

Chloe

I walked next to Alex, trying to find the words. I really needed to start practicing this stuff. Not planning ahead was a flaw I seriously needed to correct.

Even stranger was that Alex hadn’t said a word either. He was as uncomfortable as I was and that never happened. I swear that guy wouldn’t sweat in a fire.

Searching around my frazzled brain, I finally came up with something to say. It was dumb but it would get the conversation started. “I am so glad we are friendlier this summer.”

“Me too,” Alex yelled in an ultra-enthusiastic tone. He thrust his hand up into the air to give me a high five. I relaxed instantly, my breath pushing out in a long exhale. I really appreciated how easy it was to be around this guy. I jumped up to smack my palm to his.

I landed close to him and reached out my hand to just grab his shoulder to steady myself. I don’t know what I’d expected but whenever I touched Drew, I got this sizzle along my skin. But with Alex there was nothing.

His hand came to steady me at the waist and still… nada.

How could I have responded to his kiss? It made no sense and I was trying to figure out how to ask. “I mean we are really great as friends. Completely on the same wavelength.”

“Yeah,” he raised an eyebrow at me like he couldn’t understand what I was talking about. Which made sense because he’d already agreed and here I was going on and on. I had to get to the point.

“So,” I drew the word out, stalling so that I didn’t have to say the next part. But I couldn’t wait any longer. I had dragged this conversation on forever. Well, maybe just a couple of minutes but it felt like forever. “I think maybe we shouldn’t you know, kiss or anything like that. Not that it wasn’t great but that sort of physical stuff just confuses everything.”

His eyebrows scrunched together. “What? Why would we kiss?”

“Wait…what?” I stopped walking as I stared at him. Did he really just ask that? “Didn’t you kiss me on the beach last night?”

Surprise made his eyes go wide. “No, of course not.” Then he held out his hands. “That isn’t an insult or anything. I think you’re great. Awesome. And we make great friends. Awesome friends…” he gave me an almost manic smile. “But we’d already established the friend zone and I don’t want to mess that up.”

My mouth hung open as I tried to process this. There were a ton of greats and awesomes in there so my confusion seemed warranted. “Seriously? You didn’t kiss me?”

“No,” he shook his head. “We went as friends. Really great friends. Awesome—“

“Stop.” My hands came to my hips. “If you didn’t kiss me then who…” I bit my lip as understanding began to dawn.

“Um…” Alex pressed his lips together, his hands locking behind his back as he rocked on his heels. “You don’t know?”

I did know. Of course I knew. Only one person could have made me feel like that when we kissed. Drew.

The only question that was left to ask was why. Why would he kiss me and pretend to be Alex? It wasn’t like we hadn’t talked several times today. Why wouldn’t he confess? But I already had a sneaking suspicion about that too. I brought my hands up to cover my mouth. It was just one more way he was trying to be cruel to me. It was one big how can I humiliate Chloe act.

I guess calling me names just wasn’t enough.

My throat closed up so tight I could barely breathe. Tears stung at my eyes. Why had I believed that guy had changed? He probably just wanted help with his songs and then he’d needed a ride and so he’d been playing nice to use me but he’d found a new way to torture me. I hated him.

I stomped down to the beach, not speaking to Alex at all. It was rude and it wasn’t his fault but I didn’t want to talk with anybody. If I said a word, I’d probably cry. A lot. Even now I could barely hold the tears at bay.

I plopped down in the sand, thinking that it would be wiser to just go back to my cabin. Hopefully I would be alone and I could cry myself to sleep. But I’d said I’d come and so I was staying. Because I was a good person like that. I treated my friends nicely.

Millie and Drew walked onto the beach laughing together. A stab of jealously nearly left me breathless. How come he could be nice to everyone but me? I shook my head, how could I still feel jealousy knowing what he had done? Knowing how little he actually cared for me.

I looked away to see Alex talking with another group of counselors. Laughing and joking, actually. Great, I couldn’t even pretend to have a really good time with him.

Millie and Drew sat down on either side of me. “Good talk?” Millie asked.

No, my brain screamed. I took a deep breath to steady my voice before I finally answered. “Yep,” The single word came out snippy. “How ‘bout you?”

“Fine,” Millie said. “Do you guys want a soda or something? I’m going to see if someone brought a cooler.”

“Sure,” Drew answered.

“Great,” I said as I watched her walk away. I desperately wanted to call her back and beg her not to leave us alone. My feelings were about to bubble over and it wasn’t going to be pretty.